Pages

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

My grandfather taught me to fish in the “tobacco pond” on his North Carolina farm. Later I taught myself to fish in the mosquito laden coves, Intracoastal waterway, and on the creaking ocean piers of Florida. Those sun washed days of waiting for the rod tip to twitch and bend produced plenty of fish but I never ate any. I'm a fish-o-phobe. Love catching them, hate eating them.

My son, Brett, and his friend took a fishing trip in Florida last week and returned with some fresh redfish. When I think of redfish I immediately think of blackened redfish made famous by Paul Prudhomme. That begs a question: If you blacken redfish (aka red drum) are you supposed to redden black drum?

I took this opportunity to try out a recipe or two from a book I will be reviewing soon, 1001 Best Grilling Recipes by Rick Browne. I took the blackening seasoning from one recipe for salmon and matched it with his Grilled Peppers & Rice.

Now put a cast iron skillet or griddle plate on the grill. I was using a Craycort castiron grate so I was able to just switch out one of the grates for a griddle insert. Whatever you use, you want to get it preheated HOT. Real friggin' HOT (technical culinary term)! Place the butter and parsley in a tiny sauce pan.

Dry the exterior of the fish. This will help prevent sticking to the griddle pan and get a nice blackened instead of steamed crust.

Keep the fish cold until the last possible minute by keeping it on a bed of crushed ice. Fish proteins break down quickly from heat.

Place the fillets on the griddle and top with 1 Tablespoon of the butter mixture. Be careful. If the butter splashes onto the glowing coals, it will flash over. Either way, it will smoke heavily.

Cook for 2 minutes and then flip. Top with another Tablespoon of the butter.

Cook for 2 more minutes and then remove from heat. Serve immediately with the rice.

I didn't eat the fish, because, well.....it is fish. Brett and Cameron devoured it though. But the grilled peppers and rice rocked. It reminded me of “dirty rice” without meat but amped up with the fire roasted veggies. It is the perfect side dish for blackened redfish or just about any Cajun dish.

Fish-o-phobe? Me, too! Although I will eat some fish...salmon, because if you live in the Northwest it's everywhere and it would be rude not to, and the occasional piece of tuna, which I pretend is chicken. And I always cook it outside so as not to stink the place up! Won't be trying this...well, maybe the rice!

Oh yeah! I could go for this. Blackened fish is the best!!! Your spicy seasoning sounds great! We have a lake a block from our house that we used to love fishing in, a good variety to cook up and great times! Now it is catch and release, so sad.